Plasmon triggered ultrafast operation of color centers in hBN layers

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that placing carbon-enriched hBN layers on silver nanoparticles triggers ultrafast emission decay of color centers, enabling rapid single-photon emission for quantum technologies.

Contribution

It shows plasmonic enhancement of color center decay rates in hBN, achieving ultrafast operation with potential for quantum photonics applications.

Findings

Decay time reduced from 350 ps to 46 ps

Plasmon excitation by Ag NPs accelerates emission

Ultrafast operation suitable for quantum devices

Abstract

High-quality emission centers in two-dimensional materials are promising components for future photonic and optoelectronic applications. Carbon-enriched hexagonal boron nitride (hBN:C) layers host atom-like color-center (CC) defects with strong and robust photoemission up to room temperature. Placing the hBN:C layers on top of Ag triangle nanoparticles (NPs) accelerate the decay of the CC defects down to 46 ps from their reference bulk value of 350 ps. The ultrafast decay is achieved due to the efficient excitation of the plasmon modes of the Ag NPs by the near field of the CCs. Simulations of the CCs/Ag NP interaction present that higher Purcell values are expected, although the measured decay of the CCs is limited by the instrument response. The influence of the NP thickness to the Purcell factor of the CCs is analyzed. The ultrafast operation of the CCs in hBN:C layers paves the way for their use in demanding applications, such as single-photon emitters and quantum devices.